Marketing tips for professional service firms & the weary people in them

December 05, 2011

Bruce W. Marcus has written an article that professional service firm marketers and the fee-earners in those firms should read. Titled "Why Professional Services Marketing 3.0 Matters for Your Future - and What To Do About It," the article takes us back to Professional Services Marketing 1.0 (where some firms sadly still live) and the Bates decision (1977) which struck down the ethical rules that prohibited any promotional activity for legal and accounting firms.

Marcus asserts that the Bates decision created the beginnings of the marketing practices used today and it introduced the concept of competition as "the major driving force in not only developing new marketing practices, but in changing the nature of the professional firm itself."

In the early days after the Bates decision (and I would argue up until the 1990s), most accounting and law firms had not begun to adapt and the condescending line quoted in the title of this post was likely often said and heard. (An aside: I know professional service firm marketers today who have been heard such language - even been the subject of it.) These firms were, as Marcus puts it, in the 1.0 stage of professional service firm marketing.

Stage 2.0 is "the growth and development of contemporary marketing" and Stage 3.0 is "the emerging marketing practice in which professionals fully participate in—and are even beginning to be the initiators of— the marketing process" which further accelerates the change in professional firms, according to Marcus.

Marcus notes that the evolutionary process from Stage 1.0 to Stage 3.0 results in change and that change, "particularly in a dynamic economic environment" makes it difficult to plan for the long-term. Yet, plan we must. He offers steps to planning for a 3.0 firm (or those heading towards 3.0). I have bolded the points that resonated most with me:

Recognize that competition is one of the most important factors governing the contemporary practice. Anything you do should always be in a competitive context.

Recognize that change is inevitable—you can't escape it and still thrive in today's business environment.

Recognize the difference between long- and short-term planning. Many of the likely business circumstances are foreseeable in the short term—less so in the long term, which is why long-term planning rarely works out. There are too many random and unforeseeable events that alter plans.

Recognize that the key factor in planning is not "What kind of firm do we want to be," but how much you understand about the market for your services. (One of the factors in the recent rash of firm mergers involves law and accounting firms too deeply immersed in a declining industry.) For a manufacturer, long-term planning involves the market as well, but also plant construction and transportation, neither of which looms large in legal or accounting practice.

Go as deeply as possible into your clients' business and industries. Look for trends. Read the trade journals and attend industry organizations and conferences. Don't guess. Try to know.

Competitive intelligence is crucial in a competitive environment. Innovation is not imitation; it's improvement over what others are doing.

Understand that successful marketing is client-based strategy, not a collection of marketing skills and mechanics routinely applied, and that it is client-focused, not firm-focused. "This is what I'm selling" is not the same as selling from a clear understanding of client needs.

Understand that change is not an event—it's a process. Its future is rooted in its past, which is why understanding its past is important for understanding its future. Nor is it always a straight line—it's opportunistic. It's responsive to a changing environment, so pay attention to your profession's and your market's environments.

Marcus says it best when he wraps up the article:

Today, there are firms still in 1.0 and firms thundering forward in 3.0. The 3.0 firm is the one that is most likely to survive the future.

August 09, 2011

LinkedIn's blog today announced the "Improve Your Profile" tool as an "easy way to optimize your LinkedIn presence." I checked it out and it seems to be a handy and easy way to help you complete your profile.

To access, click on "Profile" / "View Profile" or "Edit Profile" from the LinkedIn menu. You should see the "Improve your Profile" button at the top right (see the screenshot of my profile below). Click that button and LinkedIn will prompt you to complete any incomplete information (and there is a checklist on the right which highlights your recommended steps). My profile was pretty complete so it prompted only one question for me, yet it will be helpful to me as a CMO as I work with our professionals to complete their profiles.

It is imperative that your LinkedIn profile be complete and up-to-date. LinkedIn is the most popular socia media network for business people. When other professionals ask me if and how to start in social media, my immediate recommendation is LinkedIn.

It doesn't take long to complete your profile (hint: always include your phone number and email address so people can easily contact you) and is a great way to highlight your experience.

If you don't have a LinkedIn profile, visit www.linkedin.com and create one. If you already have a LinkedIn profile, check out this tool to make sure your profile is complete.

Yeah, yeah, I know. You don’t run a hotel. And you don’t own a credit card company. And the options for you to create evangelists, accidental or not, are few and far in between.

Ok, so tell me another one…

Because you’ve not been listening. As in paying attention to your customers — because customers are sure telling you really important stuff all the time.

“Hi Jody,” they say, “Can we re-schedule our meeting, as I can’t make it today. My son is ill and needs to be taken to the doctor.” Or “Hi, Mark,” they say, “It’s my birthday next week, and my wife is taking me out to lunch, so….

... companies don’t listen. People do. Companies send silly greeting cards at Christmas time. People listen and act on specific situations. And when they (as in you and me, act) the customer is startled, bemused, surprised, excited and suddenly there’s a smile on the customer’s face.

This is an article that every professional service firm marketer (and rainmaker) should read. Chances are, you'll recognize your firm and your partners somewhere among her points (and you might even recognize yourself!).

Linda details a few "dead ideas and mindless marketing rituals [that] circulate freely among legal and other professional service firms." If you are a marketer, chances are you have had a partner or two come into your office or cube and share their latest and greatest business development idea - many of which Linda deems to be zombie marketing.

Her points are dead on. One of the things that struck me was her use of the term"random acts of lunch," when talking about the time-honored business development ritual of taking a prospect to lunch. Linda identifies this zombie marketing technique as:

“We really need to take [that client or prospective client] to lunch.” Lunch and other informal, semi-social settings can be great opportunities to build relationships and chew the business fat. Many qualify as zombie marketing because they’re “random acts of lunch” which amount to time squandered by the ill-prepared with the wrong people.

Rules of engagement around lunch vary enormously between sectors, corporations, and according to personnel level within organizations. Frequently, the busy and influential with plenty of spending power either don’t have time for lunch, or don’t want to be courted by prospective professional service suppliers for the price of a nice plate of food. They’d rather do their business, maybe including a quick coffee, and then spend their time with professionals and other folk they’ve come to respect and like as they talk over the deals and matters they’ve worked on and even celebrate successes together. (emphasis mine)

Her point is a good one and one that I've been pondering. Fifteen years ago, even ten years ago, it was pretty easy in my profession to gain an appointment with a prospect or take them to lunch. Over the years, it's gotten much more difficult - for a variety of reasons.

One reason is we have much more competition in our industry today than we had fifteen years ago so there are more of us knocking on their door.

A second, and much more important, reason is people today can't or won't take the time to meet with you unless there is immediate value to them. A recent post by Ian Brodie ("What's Your Step #2?") spoke to this clearly:

March 03, 2011

Google announced today that they have redesigned their Google Profile pages. They now resemble the Info page on your Facebook profile. Per Stan Schroeder of Mashable:

The new Profile looks a bit more like the Info page on your Facebook profile, with your photo in the top left corner, essential information about you below, while a scrapbook of photos and more detailed info about your occupation, employment, education and whereabouts dominating the biggest part of the page. The new design is not groundbreaking in any way, but it’s much nicer than before and it gets the job done.

See the example of the new design.

If you haven't already, you can set up your Google Profile by clicking here.

February 12, 2011

Have you Googled your name or your firm name lately? If not, you should. Paula Black, of the blog In Black & White, noted recently that as part of what she does in giving a speech is to Google everyone in attendance. She did that in a recent speech and not everyone there "owned" the first page of results (the first 10 search results).

Per Paula:

Take a moment to google yourself. Are you on the 1st page? Is the content substantive? Are you proud of it? Does it add to your credibility? If the answer is NO to any of the questions, you can do something about it.

Consider writing a blog and articles on a consistent basis. This is the best way to dominate your name on google. Before I started writing articles and blogging I had 20% of the first page of google. One entry was my website and the other was Amazon where my books are sold. But now? I have 90% of the first page of google and that is out of 9.2 million entries. Yes... 9.2 million.

There are a lot of Paula Blacks. And in addition, the shoe industry names their shoe styles with women's names and they often use the name Paula and you guessed it... they ALL come in black! Who can compete with women's shoes? I did! I dominate my name on the 1st page of google. Do YOU?

Good advice - even for those of us not competing with shoes. I own 8 out of 10 on that coveted first page of results. If you haven't done so, Google your name and your firm's name today. If the results are not what you want them to be, take action.

February 11, 2011

The solution is CardMunch.com. LinkedIn recently acquired CardMunch. According to Fill the Funnel:

So what did they acquire? Simply put, CardMunch scans a business card, sends it off to be converted into a digital format and then comes back to you with 100% accuracy, placed in your contacts database. With the release of version 2.0, you can also now send off an invite to connect on LinkedIn from within the app. No muss, no fuss.

Take a look at this video to see how it works and note the integration with LinkedIn.

Now, check out how easy it is to e-mail your contacts.

The problem right now is that it only works with the iPhone. I assume an Android and Blackberry version will be coming soon. I have downloaded and tested and it works like a charm.